The Bottle
by LeoAngel24
Summary: AU: While helping his grandmother tidy up her attic Angel comes across an old bottle that belonged to his grandfather. Not thinking much of it he takes it home not knowing just how much that bottle will change his life. (B/A)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel they belong to Joss Whedon.

Rating: T

Authors note: Please review and let me know what you think! Also check out my profile for when my next chapter will be posted. This is just a short introduction to the story, so hopefully future chapters will be longer.

* * *

Chapter 1

Angel hauled the last of the old dusty boxes down the stairs and dropped it on the ground. A cloud of dust flew up from it into his face making him cough. He was once again wondering why he had agreed to spend his Saturday moving boxes down from his grandmother's attic then he remembered his grandmother could talk him into doing anything.

"I hope you're being careful with my boxes Angel." He heard the woman he was just thinking about say as she made her way to the hall.

"Of course grandma." He sighed. She walked over to him and pinched his cheeks which made him squirm. Even though he was twenty two she still treated him like a child but that was just what grandmothers did.

"You're such a sweet boy for doing this for me. The attic hasn't been cleared out for so long. It must be an absolute mess up there." She looked down at the box he had just dumped on the ground curiously then bent down to inspect it. "Oh I haven't seen this in years. Your grandfather shoved some of his rubbish in here and hauled it up into the attic so long ago. Lord knows what you'll find in it. Is this the last one?"

"Yup, that's them all down."

"Wonderful, now why don't you take this through to the living room with the other's and start sorting through it while I make us some tea?"

"Sure." He picked the box back up and did as she said. He placed it on the coffee table and started taking items out of it. Most of it was quite boring to Angel, old books, yellowing newspapers, a couple of small paintings. At the bottom however was something interesting, a strange looking bottle. It was diamond shaped with a long thin neck and was a beautiful gleaming gold colour with small purple gems around the base of its neck. A pattern that was vaguely familiar to Angel faintly covered the whole thing. It looked like some sort of fancy perfume bottle but was sealed shut with a cork. Angel used all his strength to try and pull the cork out but it wouldn't budge. "Strange." He said aloud to himself.

"What's strange dear?" His grandmother asked as she walked into the room carrying a tray holding two glasses of tea, a small thing of milk and a bowl of sugar.

"This bottle." He replied, holding it up so she could see. "I found it in the box. What is it?"

She inspected the bottle in his hand. "Oh that old thing. It's an old family heirloom from your grandfather's side, that's why it's covered in those Irish patterns. It was passed down quite a few generations, each time given to the first born son. Your grandfather must have packed it away and forgotten to give it to your father. I haven't seen it in years." She distracted herself with preparing the tea. "Sugar? Milk?"

Angel simply nodded in response, still curious about the bottle. He felt strangely drawn to it. "Why would this be handed down for so long? Is it valuable?"

"Oh my no." The old woman replied sitting down and sipping her tea. "You'll find nothing of much value here besides, sentimental value."

"Then what's so important about it?"

"You're asking the wrong person I'm afraid. Your grandfather never told me much about it just that his father gave it to him on his eighteenth birthday like tradition and that it had been of great use to him and many before him. I had seen him with it a few times but not long after we were married we packed it away and I never saw it again."

"What possible use does this old thing have?" He tried again in vain to get the cork out of the bottle. "It feels like there might be something inside but the cork won't come out. Did you ever see him open it?"

His grandmother thought for a moment, trying to recall old memories before saying. "No I don't believe I ever did. I wish I could give you some answers about that Angel but the only person who could give them to you is your grandfather and we can't ask him unfortunately, god bless his soul."

Angel sighed and took a large gulp of his tea. It had been nearly two years since his grandfather had died, leaving his grandmother all alone, yet another he was spending his Saturday here helping her instead of out with his friends. "Well I guess it's up to you to decide what to do with it."

"You should have dear. After all it was supposed to go to your father then to you anyway."

"Thanks… I guess." He took another good look at it. "But what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Oh I don't know. Display it proudly as a treasure of your family!" She chuckled. "Or chuck it in a box and forget all about it like your grandfather. Either way it'll be where it's supposed to be."

A few hours and lot more old dusty knick knacks later Angel was in his car and driving home. He had the bottle sitting in his back seat wrapped up an old dish cloth. He wasn't really sure why he'd bothered trying to keep it safe from being damaged during the car ride, he didn't really want it anyway, but something in him told him that it was special and he needed to protect.

Once he got back to his apartment he went through the difficulty of wondering where to put it. It was rather feminine and so didn't fit in very well in his 'bachelor pad' so there was no good place for it. He didn't have long to think about it though as his phone rang so he simply dumped the bottle on his dresser and went to answer it. After a long conversation with his friend and agreeing to go out for a drink he went to the bathroom to go tidy himself up a bit. Before he left his apartment he went to his bedroom to grab his jacket and thought he heard a female voice very softly muttering something. Dismissing it from his mind he put on his coat.

In the silence of the apartment, if you were to strain your ears, you could maybe hear the voice again saying, "Get me out of here already!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Angel stepped back into his apartment after a good couple hours of beers and video games with his friends. He locked the front door and threw his keys casually on their hook. The incident of hearing voices earlier on was long gone from his mind as he whistled a tune while taking off his jacket. Moving back into his bedroom his eyes went straight to the golden lamp that just looked completely out of place sitting on his dresser. He went towards it and picked it up then moved it around in his hands, examining it. There was something very strange about the bottle but he still had no clue what. Why it was so valuable to his ancestors he had no idea but he felt quite determined to unlock its mysteries. Laying down on his bed he lightly ran his fingers along the pattern that covered the bottle. He wasn't sure what they meant if they even meant anything at all. He suddenly noticed a mark on the bottle and so, using the hem of his shirt, started to clean it.

And then it happened. The cork that had kept the bottle closed popped off and a white mist started pouring from the bottle and forming a shape in the middle of his bedroom floor. He watched in stunned silence as the mist moulded itself into the shape of a woman right in front of him. Soon her features and details formed out from the mist. She had long blond hair carefully tied up in a bun but with some strands hanging around her face. When he could make out her facial features he could see that she was quite beautiful. She had brightly glowing emerald eyes, a dainty nose and lovely plump pink lips. She was wearing a long flowing strapless white dress with gold lining the hem and the bust. She had several gold bangles on each of her wrists, what looked like a gold snake circling her upper arm and large gold hoops hanging from her ears. Finally she wore a white see through piece of material over her mouth and chin.

Once she had completely materialised and the mist began to disappear she curtsied and said "Your wish is my command, master." She straightened herself up and looked at Angel expecting him to start barking orders at her but all she got from him was a face of confusion and that made her equally as confused. "Is everything alright, master? You look rather shocked."

"Uh… um… I… you…umm." He mumbled shaking his head in disbelief. It couldn't be possible. There was no way on earth that he had just let a genie out of a bottle. It was impossible. And yet there she was standing right in front of him waiting for him to say something. So he pulled himself together and muttered out the first sentence he could. "Who are you?"

"Were you not informed of all this when you received the bottle, master?"

"Uh… no I wasn't. Could you inform me about what the hell is going on?"

"Of course." She cleared her throat and gathered her thoughts. "I am Buffy, genie of the bottle, here to serve you for as long as you need me, master."

"I see. So have you served my ancestors?"

"Yes, as long as you are a descendant of the O'Rourke family." She thought for a moment before asking. "Did your father Connor O'Rourke not inform you of all this when he gave you my bottle?"

"Connor? My father? I think you're talking about my grandfather. And he didn't give me the bottle, I found it in a box. My grandmother said that he put it in there years ago and forgot all about it. Apparently he said it was supposed to be passed down from generation to generation so she told me to take it."

"Your grandfather? Well this is all wrong. How could he just forget about me? Where is he? You must speak to him at once."

"That's going to be a bit difficult." Buffy gave him a confused look. "You see he died nearly two years ago."

Buffy looked shocked and saddened. "Connor is dead? But… how?"

"Just old age I guess."

"Old age? The last time I saw him he was a vibrant young man in his early twenties just about to get married. How long have I been in my bottle?"

"I would say about fifty years." Angel answered. He lifted himself off his bed after finally breaking out of his confused daze. "Couldn't you tell?"

"When I am in my bottle time is meaningless. I could be in there for years and yet it could feel like mere minutes to me."

"Wow, trippy."

Buffy shot him another confused look. "Trippy?"

"Um… never mind. So you're a real life genie? That's unbelievable, I never knew magic or anything like it existed."

"Well now you have learned something new."

"So is this just a three wish deal or do I get unlimited wishes?"

"Your wishes are endless. You have a many as you need. So is there something that you would like to wish for?"

"I wish you'd tell me everything I need to know about this whole genie serving my family thing. Like how you came to be my family's genie or whatever it is you are."

"I am not so sure that you would want to know that. Your family does not have the best of histories."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your ancestors were not the nicest of people. Except your grandfather of course. He was the nicest master I had ever had." A slightly dreamy smile came over her face. "He didn't just treat me like a slave, he actually cared about me. He was the closest thing I had to a friend in so long."

"So what you're saying is that, minus my grandfather, all my ancestors were jerks?"

"If jerks means unkind, cold hearted and controlling people then yes."

"Well I promise that I'm not like that." Angel said giving her a warm smile and gaining one back from her in return. "I don't really have anything to wish for though. Honestly I just want to get some sleep. I'm pretty overwhelmed from this whole experience."

"Of course, master. I will just return to my bottle until you awake. Simply call my name if you need me at any time."

And with that Buffy disappeared into the mist which went straight back into the bottle it had come out from. Angel rubbed his head and let out a deep sigh trying to wrap his head around everything that had just happened. Honestly he was wondering if this was all just a dream he would wake up from shortly but he had a feeling it wasn't. After giving himself a moment to recover he went to his bathroom to get ready for bed. All the time he was thinking genies, magic it couldn't possibly be real, there was no way. And yet it seemed so. Eventually he curled up in bed and sparing one more glance at the bottle on his dresser he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Angel was awoken the next morning by the smell of eggs and bacon cooking away. At first he thought he was simply dreaming but it didn't take long for him to realise that he wasn't he got up out of bed and followed the smell into his kitchen. He was greeted by the sight of Buffy, with an apron he definitely didn't own wrapped around her, cooking breakfast.

"Uh… Buffy? What is all this?"

"Good morning." She responded very cheerily. "I am glad you are finally awake. I thought you were going to sleep forever."

"Finally awake? It's ten o'clock."

"Exactly my point, it is getting so late. Should you not already be off to work?"

"Well it's a Sunday."

"Church then?"

"I'm not very religious. Again I ask what is all this?" He asked gesturing at the food.

"Well, a man cannot possibly start his day right without a freshly cooked breakfast. You are lucky you have me now, you barely had any proper food in this place."

"Yeah how did you get all that food and the apron?"

"I am a genie. There is a lot I could do with my powers, as long as it benefits my master."

"You have an awful lot of food there, some of it is for you right?"

"No, I do not need to eat. Genies do not feel hunger or tiredness like humans do. We can still eat or sleep but we just do not need to. Besides you can just eat as much as you want to. I will not be insulted."

"Okay." Angel rubbed his head. Not only did he have a genie she was now in his kitchen cooking him breakfast. Things were getting stranger by the minute.

"Well I think this is done." She put the food onto a plate and handed it to Angel. "Go on, sit down and eat. I will start cleaning up."

He reluctantly did as he was told. "Thanks Buffy but you really didn't have to do this."

"I am here to serve you so yes actually I did. Anything I can do for you to make your life easier. That is the whole reason I am here."

"Ah huh." He still wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation he was in but Buffy seemed perfectly fine looking after him and he was very hunger and not about to pass up a freshly cooked meal made just for him. So he dig into the food and boy did it taste good. "Wow Buffy this is great. You're an amazing cook."

"Well thank you. It is nice to be appreciated." She replied, sending a smile his way. "Cooking is one of the few things I know how to do right."

"How did you learn how to cook so well?"

"My mother taught me. It was one of the very few things I was actually taught as a child. Girls did not go to school when I was young."

"Seriously?" He paused for a moment and thought about what she had just said. "Wait, does that that you were human once?"

"Of course silly. All genies start off as regular humans."

"So how do you become a genie?" He asked, shoving another piece of bacon in his mouth.

"Well, you… I guess you could say that… it is… a… curse. Someone has to put a curse on you and make you one."

"A curse? You mean someone forced you to be a genie? You did this to you!?" He was very upset that someone had forced Buffy into what could practically be called slavery.

"It was… your ancestor. That is why I serve your family."

"One of my ancestors did this to you?"

She sighed and looked down at her feet. "I am afraid so."

"But why? Why would they do this to you?"

"Well…" Buffy started to talk but was interrupted by Angel's phone beeping. The foreign sound frightened her. "What on earth was that!?"

"Relax, it's just my cell phone."

"Cell phone? What is a cell phone?"

"I'll show you." Angel got up and left the kitchen to retrieve his phone from his bedroom. When he returned he held up so that Buffy could get a proper look at it. She was curious and yet confused. "This is a cell phone. It is basically just a mobile telephone."

"A mobile telephone? That's amazing! And it's so small and doesn't even have a cord. You can actually call people using that?"

"Yeah, as well as text."

"Text? Angel I have no idea what you are talking about."

"A text is an instant message. Here I'll show you." He opened up the text he had just received. "My friend just sent me this message from his cell phone. All I have to do to send one back is type what I want to say using this keyboard and then press the send button here." He did just that and then looked at Buffy's face to gauge her reaction. The amazed look that was there made him smile.

"Modern technology is just amazing. So you no longer need to write letters? You can just text people and get instant feedback?"

"Pretty much. But we still do use letters. Just not when you're talking to your friend or something."

"Oh Angel, I have missed so much over these last decades."

"You really have. I bet the last time you were out your lamp television was still in black and white."

"Are you telling me that you can get colour television now?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

She grabbed his arm in excitement. "Oh Angel you must show me this!"

"Of course, I have one in the living room." His phone beeped again alerting him to a new text. "But not right now. I'm afraid I have to go out. My friends want to get together and hang out and I promised them yesterday I would."

"Hang out? I swear Angel sometimes I feel like we are talking different languages."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm going to have to get you caught up with modern day terms. Hang out just means to spend time with."

"Oh. I do not really see why you could not have just said that." She muttered under her breath. "You go out and have a good time with your friends. I will stay here and tidy up. Your home could use a bit of a women's touch anyway."

"Well if you're sure you don't mind being left here on your own."

"Of course not. Besides I am supposed to be here to help you not burden you. Now go get dressed and have fun."

"Okay." Angel left and went and got dressed with a smile on his face. The girl hadn't even been here twenty four hours and he was already enjoying having her here. He hadn't forgotten their earlier conversation though. He would find out why someone that was related to would force Buffy into this life. But until he did he wasn't going to say no to having her around.

Part of him felt guilty about her being stuck in that bottle but part of him just liked her being there. She was very helpful to have around, was probably taught how to be the perfect housewife, and she was pretty nice to look at. But he didn't want her to be stuck serving other people for the rest of her seemingly eternal life. So he was going to try to find her a way out.


End file.
